Brazzil

Go Marranos!

I enjoyed reading this article about this important event. Thank you.

Been to Porto Alegre many times...been there and done that!

The "leftest" revolution never happened..just people who maybe were once leftist now acting "rightist" but still talking leftist to get people to believe that something has really changed. Right??

Maybe if I wear an Iron maiden or a Che G. T shirt I can be a cool leftist too. Afterall, Che killed hundreds ifnot thousands of innocent men and women and children in his leftist little battles so I want to part of that failed bloody terrorists' icecapades...

Ahhh humnanity, if I didnt know P.A. and the left so well, I might too say "NIce article>" But unfortunately something called reality intrudes and I can only say "wishful thinking".

Bye BYe Porto Alegre, see you again in a few months...where we will sing our revolutionary so ngs and stuff the little leftie pockets full of money..

I was a PT militant but never cared much about been leftist or rightist. I was a PT militant because I believed in most of the party's ideology and I still do, at least in some of them, but you don't need to be leftist or rightist to fight poverty, corruption and bring development to the nation. Only politics assume that they are leftist, rightist or whatever, the population don't care whether the politician, who is doing a good job, is this or that. I, particularly, don't go to the poll to vote only for politicians of PT. We need to value those who really work for the country, for the welfare of the nation and in my opinion all the politics should never earn more than R$ 8.000,00 per month and have the same rights as a citizen in this country.

What are you smoking? Most of the world thinks people in Brazil speak Spanish and live near the amazon. What did you teach the World?

I am not Brazilian
Iam not a foreigner
I am not Brazilian
I am not a foreigner
I am not from nowhere
I am from no place
I am not from Sao Paulo
I am not a Japonese
I am nnot a Carioca
I am not a portuques
I am not from Brasilia
I am not from Brazil
No Nation gave me birth!
I am not caring there
I am not caring here
I am not caring there!

Long live to Rock n Roll nacional!
Long live to TITAS

Re: Most of the world thinks people in Brazil ..... live near the amazon

My in-laws came to the US from the banks of the Amazon. I called and confirmed that they were the last ones to leave! Now we know that NO people in Brazil live near the Amazon!

Re: Most of the world thinks people in Brazil speak Spanish

Some language school students in Brazil are going to want their money back if NO ONE in Brazil spaeaks Spanish!

People in Brazil speak Japanese!

I've notice that since President Da Silva has been in office, he and his political buddies are puppets to Washington, the Bush's new world order and the IMF.
Nothing has been done with "Fome 0" other them catching more corrupt administrators working the cash flow to private bank accounts. As long as Brazil and the rest of South and Central America waits for orders from Washington, the people will be suffering for another hundred plus years.
Poverty is one of many ways the wealthy countries and the IMF controlling the people of the " developing countries/ third world ".
I'll look forward when Brazil elect a real HONEST politician for president, for the people of Brazil and not someone whom makes promises and after being elected forgets the people that elected him or her to office.
I also notice that on my visit to Brazil that people wanted to work but there were very little decent paying work available to them.
Again, the government of these third world countries exporting men power to the north to pick produce in their fields, build their large homes, highways and work at burger joints.
What a country! What a president. If importing dollars back to their countries from immigrants living abroad is the best that can be expected from these politicians in office, who needs them? Good luck!
If the marajas were getting R$8000 per month they would not fight to stay in office a life time. Abre os olhos Brasil. Toma vergonha na cara.

Companies can't pay a decent wage in Brazil because they have to send so much money to Brasilia! Not only that, it costs companies a total of R$230 for each $R100 in wages paid because of the "carga social"! That means a Conservative government could quickly QUADRUPLE that average Brazilian's standard of living. Some earning R$1000 per month would earn R$2300 if the "carga social" were paid to the employee directly. Spending power could be doubled by repealing the ICMS tax. Cut government "services" to balance the budget. That average Brazilian wouldn't miss much of it since all they are doing is paying for government employees that don't like to work anyway.

I'm trying to get some perspective here. Is $R8000 per month an excellent income? What is a "living wage" in Brazils mid/large cities? I'm really curious.

R$ 8000,00 (about US$ 2,700) is a huge wage in Brazil, that only the richest earn, sort of that of some manager of a transnational company or, of course, a politician. There are the people who really get much more than that, but they are really an exception, kind of 1 in 100,000. This is a country with a terrible income distribution. The average wage here is about R$ 850,00 (nearly US$ 300, Curitiba is lower than that, São Paulo is higher), and even R$ 4000,00 (nearly US$ 1,400) is already an excellent wage. R$ 600,00 (about US$ 200) to R$ 800,00 (US$ 275), depending on the region of the country, is the average wage of someone who has just graduated.

That's the wonderful country that our politicians have gotten us into, with the strong support of the stupid people who I'm ashamed of being of the same nationality of mine. They got to make things so inefficient that even their huge wages lose to those of janitors in the US, being that any product, except food, clothing and housing, is more expensive here than in the US. That's just amazing!!! Try comparing the price of a Pontiac GTO 6.0 V8 400HP in the US against an Omega 3.6 V6 240HP here. The Pontiac GTO is 3 times cheaper.

P.S.: Who are the main financial supporters of this ridiculous forum that constitutes an aggression against the capitalist-prone and hard-working southern brazilian people!? Ford Foundation!? hahahahah, how stupid. Who do you think is going to make the cars when this s**t goes communist!? Bingo!

Thanks for enlightening me. It's been my observation as well ( I've been to Brazil on a brief visit, and follow Braziilan articles on this site from time to time ), that almost anything imported is very expensive, relative to the average person's ability to pay. Brazil deserves a better government, but I don't see the people in the streets demanding change. Of course it isn't as simple as that, but it would be a start. As for going communist, unfortunately I agree with you, a very real possiblity. Lawlessness begets anarchy begets dictatorship, which could go either communist, or reactionary. What a shame for a country of for the most part very wonderful people.

"Nothing has been done with "Fome 0" other them catching more corrupt administrators working the cash flow to private bank accounts. As long as Brazil and the rest of South and Central America waits for orders from Washington, the people will be suffering for another hundred plus years. "

So you´re saying that Washington is the reason for so much corruption in South Aamerica? hmmm I´d love to see that memo: Hey Maluf, Bush here, hows that swiss bank account? Why don´t you pocket another 30 million or so, and let you´re people starve - oh, by the way, that´s AN ORDER!" ROFL

In regards to the lowly wage the average brazilian makes, it is true it is measly however it is also true that housing, food and clothing are much cheaper here. If you Make 4,000 Reais you live about the same as someone in the US who makes $4,000-5,000 a month in the US. Unfortunantely, if your tastes are in exported goods, then this $4,000 Reais will not go very far. However the mojority of people make a lot less than that. There are a lot of families that earning 1,000 would be considered a furtune.

The wealth distribuction in Brazil is intolerable. I can understand why people haven't started a campaign against politicians hight wages yet. They fight, kill and corrupt others to get to power because they know once in the office, they will get rich with big wages and 90% of the brazilian citizens will continue to live in poverty. NO MORE BIG WAGES FOR POLITICS!!!

Not every American makes the big bucks. There is a lot of poverty and homelessness here especially in the state of California. The average monthly rent is about $1,000 - $5,000 US dollars and a lot of people don't make that much in monthly income. In California you see hordes of homeless unwashed people roaming the streets begging for handouts.

Brazil has a long history of a large gap between the haves/have nots. The US since WWII was a much more homegeneous society economicly, until the around the 80's, when the gap between workers & management pay started growing to become the chasm it is today. It will get much worse as offshoring/automation of well paying jobs continues, putting more pressure on workers to work for less, and expect less in benefits. So, in this measure of national accomplishment Brazil is leading the way, instead of the other way around. Three cheers Brazil!
Just to clarify the post above, the the hordes of the homeless unwashed in California are pretty much confined to San Francisco, and downtown Los Angeles. Elsewhere the hordes are more dispersed.

The real problem with the leftist PT is that they are ignorant, unlearned, uneducated people who have come into political power and are only interested in stealling all they can before they are voted out of office. The are like every other politician in Brazil who get and incredible salary has all their expenses paid for them and recieves all kinds of ilegal kickbacks. The real problem in Brazil is that the people allow this. Brazilians are famous for saying "what can I do" but they do nothing. All that happens in Brazil is a reflection of the people who let it happen.

Great article! I havent been to porte alegre in years and its good to catch up.!!